Aliyat Al-Shorta Sport Club () is an

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i sports club based in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. Its football team plays in the

Iraqi Second Division League The Iraqi Second Division League is a Association football, football league that is the fourth tier of the Iraqi football league system. The league was founded in 1974, and consists of 20 teams split into two groups in the first stage. The top fou ...

, the fourth tier of Iraqi football.

History

The Aliyat Al-Shorta (Police Machinery) football team was founded in 1961 by the Police Games Committee. They were promoted to the Iraq Central FA First Division, the top division for teams in

and its neighbouring cities, in 1963 after winning the third and second divisions in succession. They clinched promotion with a 3–1 win over Al-Omma after extra time on 29 June 1963. Aliyat Al-Shorta went on to become one of the strongest teams in the region under the management of Mohammed Najeeb Kaban, winning three top-flight league titles in a row ( 1967–68, 1968–69 and 1969–70) and leading the league in the 1966–67 season before it was cancelled. In

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, Aliyat Al-Shorta became the first Iraqi team to take part in Asia's main club competition, the

Asian Champion Club Tournament The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

, and made history by becoming the first Arab side to reach the final. They won all the games they took to the field for en route to the final of the tournament, including two wins against the competition's defending champions Taj Tehran, but refused to face

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

for political reasons, waving the

Palestinian flag The flag of the State of Palestine () is a tricolour of three equal horizontal stripes—black, white, and green from top to bottom—overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. It displays the pan-Arab colours, which were first comb ...

around the field during the award ceremony and taking the runner-up spot. They were regarded as champions by the Iraqi media and were greeted with a heroes' welcome upon their return to the country, holding an

open top bus An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and s ...

parade. Aliyat Al-Shorta won the league title again in 1971–72, followed by two consecutive league runner-up finishes. In 1974, the

Iraq Football Association The Iraq Football Association (IFA) () is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraq national football team, Iraqi national team and the Iraqi football league system. The Iraqi Football Association was founded in 1948 and has be ...

(IFA) decided to implement a clubs-only policy for domestic competitions, forming the Iraqi National Clubs League which was only open to clubs and not institute-representative teams such as Aliyat Al-Shorta. With the IFA dictating that only a single club would be allowed to represent the Police in the new top-flight, Al-Shorta Sports Club was provisionally established on 18 August 1974 by the

Iraqi Olympic Committee The National Olympic Committee of Iraq (NOCI) () is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Iraq. It was established in 1948 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee that same year. It was officially dissolved in May 2003 by L. Pau ...

, replacing Aliyat Al-Shorta, Shortat Al-Najda, Kuliyat Al-Shorta and Shortat Erbil in the top-flight. As a result, Aliyat Al-Shorta were consigned to competing in non-IFA tournaments, and the team finished in third place in the Armed Forces League in the 1974–75 season. After that season, a proposal was made by former international referee Ghani Hussein Al-Jabouri for Aliyat Al-Shorta to enter the National Clubs League under the name Al-Dakhiliya SC but it was not approved. Ten players from Aliyat Al-Shorta subsequently joined Al-Shorta Sports Club to compete in the National Clubs League in the 1975–76 season, and from 1975, Aliyat Al-Shorta participated in the Iraqi Police Football League, which the team won on twelve occasions. In 1989, Aliyat Al-Shorta registered to enter the Ministry of Interior tournaments for the first time. In 1992, Aliyat Al-Shorta were eliminated from the semi-finals of the National Security Championship with a 2–1 loss to Shorta Baghdad. In 2009, Aliyat Al-Shorta participated in the Minister of Interior Cup but were beaten 5–0 by Al-Jinsiya. In 2011, the Baghdad Police Command decided to dissolve the Aliyat Al-Shorta team but the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

prevented it from doing so after appeals from team members. On 12 June 2017, Aliyat Al-Shorta were granted a preliminary establishment licence by the

Ministry of Youth and Sports A ministry of sports or ministry of youth and sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. It is led by the minister of s ...

for a period of six months, allowing them to be established as a sports club once the foundation requirements were met. In November 2017, Aliyat Al-Shorta were granted the full licence and were registered as a sports club, entering the lower divisions of Iraqi club football organised by the IFA. In 2022, the club was promoted to the

for the first time after a 2–1 win over Al-Atheer in Baghdad Group 2 of the

2021–22 Iraqi Third Division League The 2021–22 Iraqi Third Division League was the 48th season of what is now called the Iraqi Second Division League, the fourth tier of the Iraqi football league system, since its establishment in 1974. The number of clubs in the league have var ...

Managers

Honours

Major

Minor

*Iraqi Police Football League **Winners (12): including 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 *Police Perseverance Cup **Winners (1): 2000 *Police Director General Cup **Winners (2): 1965, 1972 *Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Cup **Winners (1): 1970 *Alexandria International Summer Tournament **Winners (1): 1967 *Police Cup Championship **Winners (1): 1965

Statistics

In domestic competitions

Regional

National

References

{{Iraq Division Two Football clubs in Iraq 1961 establishments in Iraq Association football clubs established in 1961 Football clubs in Baghdad